St. Francis High School’s Concussion Management Boosted by New Balance Assessment Tool



St. Francis High School’s student-athletes often juggle a wide variety of activities in the course of their busy lives – school, homework, sports practices and other extracurricular events. But when an athlete suffers a concussion, their sense of balance is compromised, along with their body’s natural balance system. With the safety of its student-athletes as the top priority, St. Francis, under the direction of the school’s Athletic Training Department, is continually seeking ways to enhance its concussion management program.

With this goal in mind, St. Francis High School is pleased to announce the advancement of the school’s three-pronged approach to concussion management 1) monitoring symptoms; 2) testing cognition utilizing the ImPact computerized neurocognitive assessment tool; and 3) testing balance through the acquisition of the VSR SPORT Portable Balance System. With the purchase of this system, funded by the generosity of the St. Francis Booster Club, St. Francis High School becomes the first high school in California and one of only three high schools in the entire nation to adopt this technology as part of the school’s Athletic Training and Sports Medicine program. This investment by the Booster Club exemplifies the school community’s commitment to the safety of our athletes across all sports and activities.

Eli Hallak ATC, St. Francis’ Athletic Trainer, now has the ability to test athletes’ balance related to concussion injury using the NeuroCom Forceplate Balance System VSR Sport in the school’s state-of-the-art athletic training facility. The new device measures athletes’ balance systems and compares the results to their baseline score done weeks in advance, along with other assessments from their peer age group to identify injury or track recovery. According to Eli Hallak, the equipment helps him recognize balance irregularities and monitor progress towards recovery. Eli acknowledges that this is “one area that is often overlooked in concussion management; concussions don’t just damage your ability to think, but they damage your balance as well.”

Concussion management is one component of St. Francis High School’s sports medicine program. The program also treats strains, sprains, overuse injuries, sports related medical conditions such as exercise induced asthma, eating disorders, skin disorders, and sports syncope, and non-operative orthopedics including evaluation and treatment of non-operative musculoskeletal conditions as a part of sports medicine. He also provides pre-participation evaluation and clearance. All are important to assuring safe play, but concussion management represents a significant portion of Coach Hallak’s focus, because head injury can have long-lasting implications.

To complete the basic balance test using the new technology, the patient steps upon a firm surface that looks much like a large scale. The machine runs a test on the balance with the patient’s eyes open, and then with the patient’s eyes closed. Finally, the patient stands on a thick piece of foam placed on top of the scale while the machine remeasures the balance, once with eyes open and again with eyes closed. The machine also uses the Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) to assess patients’ concussion damage. The BESS system was developed by Latrobe native and former Pittsburgh Steelers’ trainer Kevin Guskiewicz. The system involves patients standing upon a firm surface with their eyes closed and hands on their hips as they stand on one leg and then stand with feet heel-to-toe. The patient then repeats the system on a foam surface. BESS is usually recorded by a person with a stopwatch and a score sheet, but the balance machine scores the patients more accurately. Once patients finish the balance assessment, a printable scorecard is available with graphs of the results and an analysis of their balance scores compared to the average scores within their age group.

VSR SPORT is a portable, easy-to-use solution for assessing balance objectively, ideal for athletic trainers, sports medicine practitioners, physical therapists and physicians who want to optimize athletic performance, speed rehabilitation, and make safer play and return-to-play decisions following any mild traumatic brain injury. Balance assessment has been identified as one of three essential elements of a successful concussion management program. “VSR SPORT was designed specifically for the athletic market by Natus, the world leader in balance and mobility solutions. The Stability Evaluation Test (SET) measures postural sway and other protocols to objectively assess an athlete’s functional balance control across multiple stances.”

For more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview, please call (818) 790-0325 ext. 513 or email burghdorfa@sfhs.net.

 

 

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